Life instead of oil

In autumn 2015, 193 countries that are members of the UN, approved the Agenda for Sustainable Development for the period until 2030. One of the 17 paragraph's of the Agenda concerns the use of alternative, renewable energy sources, and Sweden already today assures that it is ready to take this exam ahead of schedule.

Three years ago, representatives of the states promised each other and the world community "to heal the planet". The approved Agenda presupposes the improvement of the existing world in many areas: protecting ecosystems, combating climate change, eradicating poverty, access to education, economic growth ... In Sweden, as in many developed countries, work continues on all fronts. The Kingdom promises in the near future completely switch to using the energy of water, winds and sun.

Sweden will completely switch to renewable energy sources soon, photo WEB

Sweden is now the undisputed leader of the EU on the application of RES. In 2017, half of the consumed energy in the country was generated at HPPs, in wind farms and by burning waste from the forest industry. This state of affairs is largely due to the correct legislative base and personal responsibility of citizens, but even more important in the development of the country's energy industry was the severe climate and the lack of own sources of oil.

The impetus for today's rapid transition of Sweden to the use of renewable energy sources was the oil crisis of the 73rd year. Then the sky-high price for "black gold" made the Swedish government think about the energy independence of the state, and now the experience gained over half a century has become a strong foundation for modern sustainable energy.

The fuel crisis of 73rd year forced Sweden to think about the energy independence, photo WEB

Hydro and nuclear power stations served as an intermediate step in the development of the country's energy complex, but being under constant pressure from environmentalists, they are now a thing of the past. Their place is occupied by wind parks and solar batteries - absolutely environment friendly energy generators.

Sweden is a sea power, and strong winds here are a habit. Estimating the energy potential of the air flows, the Swedes actively started building wind turbines. Today, the Swedish Wind Power Association (SWPA) claims that by the end of this year there will be more than 3,500 wind turbines in operation in the country that are able to generate 18 terawatt-hours of electricity per year. This means that Sweden will implement the energy plan 12 years ahead of schedule.

Sweden will implement the energy plan 12 years earlier, photo WEB

In achieving this goal, the government of the country used many levers. The first is the carbon tax, which was adopted back in 1991. In the kingdom, every entrepreneur pays for burning fossil fuels. And the use of renewable sources, on the contrary, is not subject to such a tax.

Manufacturers of solar energy are in a winning position - since last year, payments to the budget for them have been cut to a symbolic 2%. An interesting solution are the "green certificates", which allow redirecting financial flows from a large business operating on fossil fuels to a new renewable energy sector. Not the least role in the overall picture is also the processing of domestic garbage and waste of the timber industry complex.

Sweden has a very high level of civil liability, photo WEB

So, slowly but surely, Sweden is moving to fully cover its own electricity needs in the foreseeable future due to alternative, environment friendly resources. The experience of the kingdom in the introduction of renewable sources of electrical energy is interesting to all countries, but especially those in which the cold, windy climate prevails. Including Russia. Who knows, maybe soon, cheap and environmentally friendly wind energy will become the norm for everybody.

Victoria Romanova, Russia, Moscow

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